


One Year Later

by transjohnnygill



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 07:55:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7793320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transjohnnygill/pseuds/transjohnnygill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tiedoll considered himself to be a patient and resourceful man, but training Kanda was proving to be one of his greatest challenges yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Year Later

**Author's Note:**

> :V so it's been a while since I've posted anything; life's kinda gotten in the way and I'm getting ready to teach a new class this semester so my brain has just been dead lately.  
> The original version of this was done from a prompt on my side blog, but the idea really stuck with me and so I decided to go back and expand upon it a little.  
> I hope to resume my regularly scheduled fluffiness here soon <3

They had given him explicit instructions: One year to turn him around, to show them that the boy wasn’t a threat to himself or others, to prove that he could be trained, that he could follow orders. It wasn’t often that Central made a point of interfering in a general’s affairs, and he had certainly never been given such a harshly enforced deadline with his students in the past. But in the case of this new accommodator, this second exorcist, this _child_ , the CROW’s use of the word _deadline_ was a more than a little concerning to the French general.

To be honest, Tiedoll was at a loss; he had dealt with troubled apprentices in the past, but, given the proper amount of time, they had always come around in the end, rising up from the depths of their tragic pasts and emerging fragile yet stronger at the same time, turning their hardships into a driving force in their lives. But Yuu—Kanda, he corrected himself mentally, seemed to be the exception to this. It had been nearly nine months without hardly any change or progress with his young apprentice, or at least none that Central would count as noteworthy, and they had only given him _one year_.

Kanda had every right to be angry, to lash out; he was justified in his sullen bitterness and spiteful words, and General Tiedoll was perfectly capable of containing and carrying the weight of the boy’s emotions as he struggled to process the horrors that he had survived. Their first few months together had been particularly turbulent—Kanda wanted nothing to do with him, often trying to get that point across with the nearest sharp object that he had access to. But still Tiedoll had persisted, proving time and time again that he couldn’t be deterred by violent outbursts. At least having Marie around seemed to curb his temper slightly, the older exorcist having struck a bond with Kanda even before joining Tiedoll as an apprentice; the two of them certainly made for an interesting pair to say the least.

It was the silence that got to Tiedoll. The days—sometimes almost a week at a time—that Kanda would just exist in a hazy, detached muteness, with hardly any sign of life in his dull blue eyes. Those days were the worst. And thus far, time seemed to be the only thing capable of snapping him out of his fugue; not even Marie’s presence would make a difference. So no, the anger he could handle—It would fade in time. The silence though, the silence might just break them both.

As the one-year marker for their time together drew closer and closer, Tiedoll became determined to draw at least one smile, one laugh, one positive something or some slight form of happiness from the child, anything at all to show that he might be starting to heal. But try as he might, he failed time and time again to find anything to replace the permanent scowl set on Kanda’s face. Everywhere that they went, Tiedoll kept a close watch on his apprentice’s expression and body language, looking for any sign, any hint to something that the young exorcist might actually enjoy.

The first sign of hope came as they traveled through Ireland, the grassy country side littered with little else other than sheep and horses, save for the occasional farmhouse. As they broke for lunch and a quick rest close by to one of those farmhouses, Tiedoll watched as Kanda perked up slightly, eyebrows raised and lips parting as his blue eyes tracked the shepherd and his dog, a beautiful red and white Irish setter, as they crossed the field to where the flock of sheep rested. The expression only lasted a moment before Kanda schooled it again, reining in his curiosity, much to Tiedoll’s disappointment. But it had lasted just long enough to give the seasoned exorcist an idea.

Tiedoll left Marie in charge of keeping an eye on Kanda after they finished eating, giving his students the opportunity to rest under the shade of the large willow while he cited the need to speak to the farmer whose land they were on and that they could expect him back within the hour. Kanda had merely rolled his eyes with a scowl and settled down against the trunk of the tree with huff as he began to work on the meditation exercises that Tiedoll had insisted that he learned to do.

After twenty minutes or so of meditating in the peaceful silence, Kanda nodded off into a light sleep, exhausted from the constant traveling, trusting Marie at least far enough to know that the other would wake him should anything pressing happen. Unaware of the world around him, the young exorcist didn’t even notice the return of his master, instead being snapped out of his slumber by wet, enthusiastic kisses from the dog that had accompanied Tiedoll back to his students.

The change in Kanda’s countenance was both instantaneous and dramatic, his sleepy face going from shock at the sudden awakening, to light disgust at the continued licking from the dog, before finally resolving into a look of pure love and joy, tears in his normally stormy eyes as he threw his arms around the dog’s neck, the both of them rolling around in the grass. From across the field, the shepherd whistled for his dog, who came to immediate attention and bounded off to go back to work, turning back expectantly when it realized that Kanda hadn’t gotten up to follow as well. The boy gave Tiedoll a silent questioning gaze, sprinting out into the field at the dog’s tail after getting the go ahead from his master.

The team ended up staying the night at the small farm house, Kanda spending the remainder of the daylight hours helping the dog chase the sheep around the field before both boy and dog collapsed in a pile together on the floor of the shepherd’s living room, Kanda drifting off to sleep with his head in Marie’s lap as he quietly plucked away at the strings of his Noel Organon.

Tiedoll watched on from the kitchen table, only looking away to glance up at his golem that was flitting around by his head, it’s large mechanical eye trained on his two apprentices. Content that it had recorded everything that he would, he tucked it securely inside the inner pocket of his jacket. Tiedoll smiled to himself, his hand coming up to rest against the pocket, knowing that Kanda would rage and smolder for _days_ if he ever learned of the golem’s content. But days wouldn’t matter anymore. No, with what he had witnessed today, Tiedoll finally had hope for the boy’s future—he would have time to outraged and fussy at him because _he would have time_ —years of it, God willing.

Tomorrow they would move on from this place, leaving behind green pastures as they made their way back to Tiedoll’s native lands. But tomorrow Kanda would also be able to move on, even if only slightly, from the pain of his loss. With time, there would be progress, and so long as there was progress, there was hope. And hope, Tiedoll knew, would make all the difference.

**Author's Note:**

> The original ficlet:  
> http://dgray-imagines.tumblr.com/post/148528287700/i-saw-a-headcanon-that-the-first-time-kanda-smiled


End file.
